Tactile feedback for mobile interactions

We present a study investigating the use of vibrotactile feedback for touch-screen keyboards on PDAs. Such keyboards are hard to use when mobile as keys are very small. We conducted a laboratory study comparing standard buttons to ones with tactile feedback added. Results showed that with tactile feedback users entered significantly more text, made fewer errors and corrected more of the errors they did make. We ran the study again with users seated on an underground train to see if the positive effects transferred to realistic use. There were fewer beneficial effects, with only the number of errors corrected significantly improved by the tactile feedback. However, we found strong subjective feedback in favour of the tactile display. The results suggest that tactile feedback has a key role to play in improving interactions with touch screens. Author Keywords Tactile icons, Tactons, touch-screen buttons, mobility. ACM Classification Keywords H5.2. [User Interfaces]: Haptic I/O.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2007
• Where: CHI
• Authors: Stephen A. Brewster, Faraz Chohan, Lorna M. Brown
• Keywords: CHI 2007, Human Computer Interaction, Keywords Tactile Icons, Tactile Feedback, Tactile Feedback Users